ut his father. And I used to think it wasn't very nice of Viola never
to go with Jimmy on his pilgrimages.

I was with them once when she was seeing him off at Euston, and I said to
her, "Do you never go with him to see the poor old man?"

She turned to me. (I hadn't seen her look stern and fiery before.)

"Wally," she said, "I suppose it's because you're so good that you always
think other people aren't. That _poor old man_ was a perfect devil to
Jimmy. I don't say that Jimmy always was an angel to him, but he's been
pretty decent, considering. He's told me things I couldn't tell you; and
there were things he couldn't tell me. He says he didn't believe in God
the Father when he was little, just because he wanted to believe in God.
He thought God couldn't be anything so frightful as a father.

"That's why he's so awfully fond of Daddy."

* * * * *

And so it went on. She swung between slight shocks and passionate
recoveries. One minute Jimmy's manners made her shudder all down her
spine, and the next he would do some adorable thing that brought her to
his feet. Half the time she pretended that things hadn't happened when
they had. And when her flesh crept she had memories that lashed it.

I used to wonder whether this oscillation would slacken or increase with
time. Would she swing on a longer and more dangerous rhythm? Would she be
flung backwards and forwards between fascination and repulsion?

And I would catch myself up and answer my own words, "Of course not. The
poor chap isn't as bad as all that."

Then early in nineteen-ten Reggie Thesiger came home on leave from India.

Looking back on it all now, I seem to see that until he came everything
was going well. The oscillations, even if I didn't exaggerate them,
couldn't have counted. Her heart was steady, and in her heart she adored
her husband. There could be no doubt about it, she adored him. It was
because she adored him that she suffered. Nobody can stand imperfection
in their god.

But then she adored Reggie too.

She hadn't a misgiving. When Norah rushed to her with the news that
Reggie had got his leave, she went wild and nearly strangled poor little
Jimmy in her joy. She counted the weeks, the days, the hours till he
landed. She argued with Norah as to which of them should have him first
and longest when he came to town. Norah told me she didn't think he would
stop long with _us_ if he could go to Viola. Viola was